Camera Labs

Hi Will,
I have used ZS3 for couple months since I purchased it from amazon.com, and I am enjoying it very much for outdoors. It's got fast AF, good image stabilization and very smooth working 12X zoom. Its outdoor image quality is second to none in P&S cameras and probably rivals entry level DSLRs in my opinion. But indoor performance with flash is not so great. I pretty much consider it as non-flash camera.
It's being phased out by Panasonic in favor of ZS7, so it's in short supply. But people seem to still demand it a lot due to its good IQ, which makes very small price difference between it and ZS7.

I have read that some aftermarket batteries will not work with this camera because Panasonic 'upgraded' the firmware so you have to buy their batteries.

http://cgi.ebay.com/2x-BATTERY-PANASONIC-DMW-BCG10E-LUMIX-ZR1-ZS1-ZS3-/200466549059?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Batteries_Chargers&hash=item2eacbcc943

these say they are "Compatible Li-ion Decoded Battery" - so sounds like they should work?

Does anyone have experience with this? Should I stick with Panasonic brand battery or does that matter?

thanks,

Will

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www.planetmaine.net

Hi Will, yes it's true that Panasonic is trying to prevent the use of third party batteries with updated firmware. So if you are buying a third party battery, I would ask for a guarentee and a refund if it doesn't work with your camera.

I can't comment on nay brands though, sorry.

Thanks Gordon - good advice. I will try them and report back.

What settings would people recommend for vids with this camera that I know are for straight to YouTube vids? I mean so I get highest quality and HD on YouTube but take up the least memory on my card when I am filming them. No sense in filming a 500mb higher than necessary quality vid that I know will only be reduced in size when I upload it.

PS - I played around with the ArcSoft panorama software that came with the camera and shot this today:

http://www.meepi.org/will/photos/bowlerpond.jpg

thanks,

Will, Maine, USA

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www.planetmaine.net

Hi Gordon,

As I mentioned a while ago regarding the iZoom, EZ, I finally tested it on my new ZR3 which I got a few days ago. It really feels, looks like small ZS3 and I like it. It's got nearly same functionalities as ZS3 plus intelligent resolution and iZoom. It's got 8X optical zoom, 10X iZoom with max resolution of 14MP.

So I set the resolution down to 5MP in normal mode and set the IR to ON, no iZoom. Then the max telephoto gave me 13.5X zoom. Then I set the IR to iZoom, and this gave me max zoom of 16.9X. This is the same ratio of 10X iZoom to 8X optical in default iAuto mode. So yeah, it looks like EZ and iZoom can be used together. iAuto is always using iExposure, IR set to iZoom. So I tested this in iAuto too by setting resolution to 5MP, and again it gave me 16.9X max iZoom as expected.

Normally I wouldn't use lower resolution, but when I am outdoor and really need to catch far subject with more than 8X, I have option of using 5MP in ZR3 to reach there with extended zoom. But I would avoid the iZoom range if possible because it's sharpness would suffer a little even with IR feature. Since ZS7 has the same sensor, processor and algorithm, I think would work the same way on the zoom features.

Oh, I didn't notice this is ZS3 forum. Just realized it. I meant to post the previous one on iZoom on ZS7 forum. Sorry about that...

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for .mts editor recommendations. These files are giving me a major headache - from crashing each media player I try them in for no reason if I switch to another program during playback, to Premiere CS3's "unknown file format" annoyance.

And this is an awesome camera indeed. As someone who owned a TZ3, I am impressed with how much Panny has improved the functions in these 3 years.

FYI I did buy this battery:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0380234087

and it does work. The thing is I have never even needed it! Even after using the camera for a few days kicking around the beach, etc. I am amazed at the battery life. I am not using the vid function very much though, mainly photos.

thanks,

Will

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www.planetmaine.net

Here is a link to recent panoramas from Maine.

http://www.meepi.org/will/pans/coast.htm

They are not so great because I do not use a tripod. I think 16:9 is probably better for panoramas but these are in 4:3.

enjoy,

Will

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www.planetmaine.net

Gordon, which would you personally recommend ?
A TZ7 or the Casio H15 ?
Tempted by both (and I'm not a huge picture taker, just won over by what they can do !